makeste | KHR 294, in which I invite you to join me on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

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KHR 294, in which I invite you to join me on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

You see, after being spoiled for the biggest shocker so far in this arc last week, I resolved to stay away from spoilers this time, so you'll all get to read my pure and honest reactions in this post today. Hooray!

1. OH. OH MY HEART. ;_______;

Last week, a cover like this would have been merely adorable. This week, it is both adorable and gut-wrenching. (Also gay, but that's neither here nor there.) THE POINT IS, this is a very deliberate attempt on Amano's part to show us a scene that's fully guaranteed to make every single reader go, "Awww, I love these guys," while knowing FULL WELL that one of them (THAT HAPPY GUY THAT SHE DECIDED TO PUT IN THE FOREFRONT, NO LESS) is lying in a dramatic pool of his own blood at this very moment and OH MY GOD WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT. That is such a bitchy thing to do. My emotions don't even know even know what the hell is going on right now, and that is just not cool.

2. What, really Ninth, you're just going along with this now? Goddamn it, stop making it difficult to decide whether or not you're evil. It's bad enough we have to wrestle with characters like Mukuro; we hardly need yet another morally gray character with complicated motivations much like someone would actually have in real life!! >:(

Fortunately, one of the Ninth's sexy old man guardians interrupts this completely anticlimactic moment with a phone call from Tsuna's ever-reliable and awesome RIGHT HAND MAN, and what's this? DOES THIS MEAN GOKUDERA ACTUALLY WAS THE ONE TO FIND YAMAMOTO AND GET HIM TO SAFETY IN THE NICK OF TIME?

A-Amano. ;_; You do care! HAHAHA I INSTANTLY FORGIVE EVERYTHING. I AM EASY.

P.S. I love how Tsuna's first reaction to Gokudera's call was "Oh my God does he know how does he know?!" If it was anyone but Gokudera, this hilarious paranoia would be in no way justified, but. Yeah.

3. Oh, Tsuna. :( You just made the same face that I and pretty much every other Yamamoto fan made last week. THE VERY SAME. Oh God, and here I was afraid that this would turn into some Bleachish thing where we wouldn't find out what happened to Yamamoto for like YEARS and by then everyone else would be distracted with some other complicated situation so we wouldn't get to see any of these angsty reactions.

Turns out I needn't have worried. If anything, we might have the opposite problem, wherein Amano actually details the reactions so painstakingly that this chapter just becomes agonizing to read. Because I gotta tell you, I read the words "Gokudera-kun's voice... was shaking..." and I VERY NEARLY BROKE DOWN RIGHT THERE. JUST READING ABOUT IT. Oh God. But this is exactly what I love about KHR. It's all about the characters, first and foremost, and the plot follows second from there.

4. SO WE FOLLOW TSUNA TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM and oh man, I am so glad I didn't spoil myself for this because I am on the edge of my goddamn seat here. AHHH BRACE MYSELF, BRACE MYSELF...

... *SOBS OH MY GOD*

Oh Jesus. This is so hard to read. ;_; Ahh he's all bloodied up and with the oxygen mask and the blanket pulled up to his chin and Yamamoto, Yamamoto, you're not supposed to be like that, you're a shounen character who recovers from life-threatening injuries in two hours, it's not like Kaoru hit you with a wall or anything, AND TSUNA'S FACE. TSUNA'S FACE. WHY DO I CARE ABOUT THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH, IT'S SO BAD FOR MY HEALTH WHEN THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN.

5. Oh wait, Ryohei was the one to find Yamamoto first. OKAY THEN. XD I'm down with that, too; Ryohei so rarely gets the chance to be the hero, after all. I like it when he does responsible things.

Also I am doing my best to avoid looking at the prominent Crying Tsuna panel because I really can't handle that right now. When this all comes out in the anime I'm just going to die or something. IT'LL BE LIKE WHEN LOST ENDED BUT EVEN WORSE. Can you even imagine watching this scene play out with the sad music and the seiyuu giving it all they've got for maximum drama? People are going to drown in their own damn tears.

Also Gokudera is my hero. RIGHT THERE WITH YOU, MAN. CURSE YOU KAORU WE WILL NOT FORGIIIIIIVE.

6. OH SHIT

SHIT SHIT

THE PUNK WAS RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE TIME SHIT SHIT SHIT. AND HE'S ALL, "OH YEAH WE WERE HANGIN' BUT THEN I LEFT" OH YOU LIAR. YOU LYING LIAR WHO IS LYING!!1 Also I'm kind of terrified one of the Shimon is going to try to finish the job and off Yamamoto when the Vongola aren't looking. ARE WE GOING TO HAVE A KHR VERSION OF THE GODFATHER HOSPITAL SCENE?!

FFFFFFFFF it's times like this I wish the majority of the Vongola family wasn't born and raised in the world capital of obliviousness. TSUNA WHERE IS YOUR INTUITION WHEN WE NEED IT.

7. BUT WAIT! REBORN HAS BEEN WATCHING DETECTIVE CONAN AND DID A SMART THING?!? YOU GO REBORN. YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, NOBODY MESSES WITH HIS FAVORITE MAFIA IDIOT ON HIS WATCH.

Lol, this sure puts the Shimon family in an awkward position. "Oh shit, if we leave he's gonna tell them all that Kaoru did it, but if we insist on staying over his objections we'll give ourselves away for sure." What a quandrary. THAT THEY FUCKING DESERVE.

I gotta hand it to Adelheid for having the balls to try and argue anyway, though. And I love that veiled threat (or what I totally perceived as a veiled threat, anyway) that Reborn gave her: "You might be attacked as well." INDEED THEY MIGHT.

8. Oh snap, Yamamoto actually did the cliched "use my own blood to write a message to reveal the killer" thing before he passed out. My heart is gladdened somewhat to know that a small part of him must surely have enjoyed this, Yamamoto being who he is. "Haha, just like in the movies." That was a once in a lifetime chance, after all. Also it was totally hardcore.

9. OH SWEET WE GET TO FIND ABOUT THE BOTTLE OF SIN. And Reborn's the one explaining it, didn't expect that.

--Oh, fucking gross, it is blood. Ugh. In fact, it's pretty much exactly what my first instinct said; a bottle of blood that when you drink it you inherit all the memories of the Vongola family's evil deeds throughout the ages. Oka~y. And for some reason the Shimon family wants this thing?? WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT, I GUESS, BUT THAT'S PRETTY EFFING TWISTED.

And the only chance the culprit has of getting the bottle is at the Inheritance Ceremony...

...oh, nice, Amano. WELL PLAYED. Maybe Kaoru's not such an idiot after all.

10. "I'll ask the Ninth to open the ceremony. Whoever did that to Yamamoto... I'll catch them, no matter what it takes! I'm going to the Inheritance Ceremony!"

Oh wow, I just felt a chill run down my spine. Seriously, that is beautiful, how that played out. Even knowing about the whole sin thing now, even having already refused, he has no choice now if he wants to uncover Yamamoto's attacker. He's forced to go through with it. More than that, he wants to, because he's determined to find the culprit and bring them to justice. PERFECT. SO PERFECT. It's completely in line with his character and makes perfect sense with the plot and it's all coming together now, hell yeah.

HATERS TO THE LEFT, Y'ALL, this arc is quickly becoming amazing. Best chapter in ages, and that's really saying something. I. LOVE. THIS. MANGA.

ETA: Also before I get completely caught up in this whirlwind of narrative excitement, Happy Belated Birthday to

rinkhals! ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ryohei: I like it when he does responsible things. I KNO RITE.

The Shimons will learn never, EVER to underestimate Reborn.
One thing that I admire Amano for is ~~her drawing of pretty bishies~~ her emotional contrast. You have Daily Life...and then you have THIS.

We know that ten years from now Ryohei will end up being an awesome guy who goes around making smart decisions and taking charge and not just rushing headlong into every damn thing anymore, so whenever something like this happens, I get excited because it's another baby step that will one day lead up to all of that. :D

AND YOU BET THEY WILL. They've got some nerve, those guys.

And emotional contrast is putting it lightly. I've never come across another manga that excels so much at both humor and drama, not even One Piece. When Amano does crack, she does CRACK, but when she decides to do angst, oh my God you had better grab a box of tissues and brace yourself because she does not pull back her punches. Eesh.

For a long time now I have been confused with the Shimon Family's goal. They apparently want to take down the Vongola, right? But even when they are alone they talk about how they don't want any interupptions with the Inheritance Ceremony. But this chapter got me thinking. Reborn claims that Yamamoto wrote the name of the culprit and the Italian word for sin in his own blood.

But to my knowledge, Yamamoto doesn't know Italian, so why would he write that? My guess is that Kaoru wrote that word so that the Vongola Family would continue with the ceremony in order to catch the culprit. I think that the Shimon Family wants to rise above their status as a weak family using the Sin of the Vongola. The Sin is only shown during Inheritance Ceremonies so that is why the Shimon Family wants it to be successful. I believe that the Shimon Family will interupt the ceremony and Enma will wind up drinking the Sin. After a long battle Tsuna will probably defeat Sin!Enma and they'll probably make up and become friends again.

But this is all just a crazy theory...

Well, as long as Yama recognized the letters written on the crossed-out Vongola cressed, he could have written the sounds down in hiragana even without actually knowing what the word meant. It does look like he was starting to write in the final panel from the last chapter, too, after Kaoru had already taken off, so at least part of the message was definitely written by him, I think.

But since most of the message was conveniently covered up by the time Ryohei and later Reborn got there, someone definitely came back and messed with the evidence, so it is possible that whoever did it (and it might not necessarily have been Kaoru; Adelheid or someone else might have arrived at the scene) wrote the "sin" bit deliberately, it's true. If they did, it was one hell of a move on their part, since it had exactly the intended effect.

And whatever the case, it's pretty clear that Enma does intend to drink the sin, as you said. Maybe they're under the impression that it's the SOURCE OF THE MIGHTY VONGOLA FAMILY'S POWER or some weirdness like that. Who knows. But yeah, I generally agree with you there.

I'm loving this arc so much right now, oh man.

Edited 2010-06-17 21:27 (UTC)

If it was anyone but Gokudera, this hilarious paranoia would be in no way justified, but. Yeah.

I laughed so hard BECAUSE IT IS TRUE. XD

But this is exactly what I love about KHR. It's all about the characters, first and foremost, and the plot follows second from there.

Oh, yes. ♥ ♥ ♥ There aren't a lot of shounen manga that get this far and still have a strong enough focus to stir emotion the way KHR does. I love that Amano went there, she didn't just show him banged-up and bloody but she actually showed the operation, forceps and all. ~~And Gokudera's face. It warms the awesome!cockles of my heart.~~

My heart is gladdened somewhat to know that a small part of him must surely have enjoyed this, Yamamoto being who he is. "Haha, just like in the movies." That was a once in a lifetime chance, after all. Also it was totally hardcore.

Yes! This is exactly the kind of thing he would get excited about. Oh, Yamamoto. ;_;

a bottle of blood that when you drink it you inherit all the memories of the Vongola family's evil deeds throughout the ages.

But if you drink it . . . well, the bottle looked full. Maybe you add some of your own blood? Or maybe just owning it is enough? IDK.

Those last few pages: HELL YES, TSUNA. I'M SORRY I EVER DOUBTED YOUR CAPABILITIES FOR AWESOME. \o/

Also, I KNEW IT. YAMAMOTO SECRETLY KNOWS ITALIAN. (Well, either that or Kaoru was going for a Xanatos Gambit. BUT YAMAMOTO KNOWING ITALIAN IS WAY COOLER.)

WELL LIKE I SAID IN A REPLY TO AN EARLIER COMMENT, HE WOULDN'T HAVE ACTUALLY NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND ITALIAN IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE THE LETTERS AND TRANSLATE THE SOUNDS INTO HIRAGANA, I THINK. Though the fact that that part of the message was conspicuously unerased while the rest of it was covered up is kinda suspicious; we definitely can't rule Kaoru's involvement out.

And so agreed about Amano's ability to stir emotion; I was going through my flist and I was really surprised by how many people had really strong reactions to this chapter. And it was the same in the chapter post over at

hitman_reborn. The impact real seems to be universal. It takes real skill to create characters your readers are so invested in that when something like this happens, the shock just resonates across the board. And then she went the extra mile and delved into the nitty-gritty of the injuries and the operation and everyone's reactions, and goddamn. You go, Amano.

LOL IDK, I SEE A BOTTLE OF SOMETHING AND I AUTOMATICALLY THINK, "OH, SOMEONE PUT SOMETHING IN A BOTTLE, THAT MEANS IT IS MEANT FOR DRINKING." Uh. Come to think, it really doesn't make a lot of sense, unless the newly initiated boss then replaces the contents with his own doped-up blood, thus adding his own sinful memories to the mix or something similarly disgusting like that. WELL WHATEVER, WE'LL FIND OUT SHORTLY.

And Tsuna is the man. He really does shine when it becomes a matter of protecting his loved ones. Not hard at all to see why he's so beloved by his loyal band of minions.

Edited 2010-06-17 21:27 (UTC)

Deary me you just said EVERYTHING that went through my mind. I've read so many shounen manga and although they went to their dark places, something about the fact that my beloved slice-of-life, cracktastic, bad-guys-are-redeemed series becoming, well, this is absolutely bizarre. It's truly spectacular. I mean, I was wondering where about Tsuna. He's gotten so, so powerful lately and how much stronger could he get before it just seems ridiculous? I had completely forgot that he is able to grow into maturity and that is what we are seeing now. It's... it's... wow.

Yes yes yes exactly. *_* Amano seems to understand what all too few shounen mangaka do nowadays, which is that a compelling lead character needs to grow as a person, not just as a badass unstoppable killing machine. And personally, the former is far more interesting to me anyway. Between his humble-yet-determined speech to the Ninth last week and his "I won't forgive whoever did this to Yamamoto, we are GOING TO THE INHERITANCE CEREMONY, FOOLS" resolve this week, I'm just completely blown away by how far he's come since the start of the series. He's a real, honest-to-God leader now, someone I'd genuinely want to follow myself.

:D Tsuna! I can finally see a bit of development coming in for ya! X3

And...Yamamoto. ;____;

Well, I guess we're into seeing something that actually is mafia-ish. ^^; Bottle of blood, alright. :[ Ew...

And what development. If I swell up any more with pride I'll burst.

And yeah, this arc has definitely taken a turn for the dark and realistic (realistic in a relative sense compared to the rest of the series, that is XD). I almost feel guilty for how much I'm enjoying it, heh. BUT YAMAMOTO. Oh, Yama, you were the catalyst for something great, but at what cost? ;_;

You did a great review lol congratulations.

Haha, and the same to you, my man! *BROFIST* Didn't get a chance to comment to your post because I was busy earlier and then LJ started acting like a pain in the ass, but I really appreciated your analysis, heh. Granted, it made me that much more worried about Yamamoto's current condition, but I keep telling myself he's a main character, so he'll be fine. Though it sure doesn't sound like he'll be back in action anytime soon. XD

:D thank you so much, yeah he is spending a season in the hospital ;_;

Sob, whatever will we do without Yamamoto around to have awesome swordfights and make hilarious peanut gallery observations? ;_;

Omg just read your review and everything played out for me again. Have to agree, this chapter was. the.best.in.ages. For severaldifferent reasons, neverthless. And through it has left a lof of WTF questions and had a million cases of asspullage, when Reborn chapters didn't do this?

Through, even if I was bitching at some characters while reading this and picking on Amano, in the end I still was all 'OMG ILU Tsunaaaaaa, OMG ILU Gokudera, OMG, I love you Yamamato, AMANo you I love more than everyone else!'

Through, I'm a little disappointed that tsuan goes to the inheritance ceremony only to figure out who's Yamamoto attacker - and I'm really wincing saying 'only' here, because it's YAMAMOTO and one of his closest friends we're talking about, but I would neverthless want him to mature a little and finally stop to turn his back on the WHOLE inheritance thingy. on the whole VONGOLA thingy. But maybe a little more time should pass for it to happen,through.

Aside from this, this arc is seriously bastardly amazing. I remember the end of the Future arc with Byakuran when I already wanted to puke merely seeing him after all those 298356349586349 chapters and just wanted it to end ASAP. TO be honest, making reviews is harder too, because almost every page now is 'woah woah woah isn't it awesome' contrary to the 'I'm following this wtf trainwreck only because I love the characters dearly' of the past.

This said, I truly admire your dedication to the manga. Myself, half the time I snark and fall into the hole of neverending sarcasm and critisize everything, but you have the courage and love enough to embrace every chapter regardless of how wacky the plotholes were etc. I don't have that much soul in myself, but since we have you, it's all right \o/

It really was an amazing chapter. And yeah, it raised some questions, but in the good "oh I can't wait to find out what's up with all this" way, not the frustrating "damn it that makes no sense and I doubt she's ever going to explain it" way. It's all parts of the puzzle, and slowly coming together.

Well, some bitching is only natural if you're really involved in what's happening, lol. And in the end it really did boil down to "OMG I LOVE EVERYTHING", or at least it did for me. God I love these characters.

I'm kind of coming from the opposite viewpoint on Tsuna; I'm glad Amano stayed true to his character and didn't pull a "oh hell, why not, sure I'll become the boss" out of the blue when he's clearly had his heart set against it. Maybe the character development will happen in this arc and he'll finally change his mind, or maybe not; it could very well take the whole series, but I don't mind (tbh, I really love that he's an unambitious character with really simple goals in life). I thought the way she played this out with him being forced into the ceremony in order to catch Yamamoto's attacker was brilliant; that way, no characterization got sacrificed.

O be honest, making reviews is harder too, because almost every page now is 'woah woah woah isn't it awesome' contrary to the 'I'm following this wtf trainwreck only because I love the characters dearly' of the past.

OH MAN, I HEAR YOU ON THAT ONE. When I went back to proofread this before posting, the whole time I was thinking, "man, this isn't funny at all," because really the entire thing is either "BAWW YAMAMOTO" or "OMFG YES PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS HAPPENING!!" There's nothing to make fun of. XDD DAMN YOU AMANO FOR LEAVING NO WEAK SPOTS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF.

And lol, thank you. It's weird, because this is pretty much the only fandom in which I don't just start pointing out this flaw and that flaw and making snarky comments about everything. XD I dunno, something about this manga just renders me mostly incapable of anything but "YAY KHR." I'm basically Amano's bitch, wheeeee.

really Ninth, you're just going along with this now

No no, he said he wasn't giving up! And then... telephone.

TSUNA'S FACE. TSUNA'S FACE.

I know, I konw... There There *hugs*

REBORN HAS BEEN WATCHING DETECTIVE CONAN AND DID A SMART THING?!? YOU GO REBORN.

I LOOOVEE Reborn and that's one of the reason I do.

fucking gross, it is blood.

I LOLed when I read this!
Maybe it has some special power (because Shimon has a (or more??) new flame (S), Vongola will need more power! (but... HOW IS THIS F****** POSSIBLE???)

I loved your post, btw.

Oh yeah, true. XD But I assume he meant that wasn't giving up on the idea of Tsuna becoming the tenth boss eventually, but that he was giving up on having the inheritance ceremony the following day. Basically, he was willing to step back and give him some breathing room for a while, and I just totally did not get that vibe from him at all a few chapters ago when he was being a manipulative creep. NINTH YOU ARE A COMPLEX AND PUZZLING INDIVIDUAL.

I'm really glad this manga has a main character who's not afraid to get all EMOTIONAL AND CRYING when things get rough, but at the same time it makes it that much harder when you get attached to him and he starts tugging at your heartstrings like that. XD

Yeah, Reborn is awesome. His response to hearing that Yamamoto's in critical condition is to go check out the scene of the crime, and let the others worry about rushing to the hospital. So badass and let's-get-down-to-business.

OH VONGOLA FAMILY, YOU AND YOUR ICKY WEIRD TRADITIONS.

And haha, thanks. <3

The man is a paranoid hitman. That doesn't change whether he's 5 feet or 2 feet tall. So I guess that's his way of coping with losing his primary mode of transportation. I think he's being calm for the benefit of the kids.

Yeah, I can't really blame him. He always did strike me as the type who'd rather be doing something than just sitting back and reacting. I wonder if Hibari's out there doing something similar right now. WELL, "RIGHT NOW" IN MANGALAND, GIVEN THAT HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

I am still reeling. This chapter was hard on someone who likes 80 best of all and also knows too much about hospitals. (Wanna read how I broke it down into details over at

jote_jote's LJ?)

You and

jote_jote quite frankly terrified me. XD Though it was fascinating to read all the same. And yeah, I imagine it was pretty intense when you guys got to pages 6 and 7. T_T

Sorry about that. It felt good to be geeking out with someone who could relate both ways. I still can't get myself to go to IEM's site, since they have the panel from page 6 up there.

Haha, no worries; even as I'm horrified thinking about it, I'm also simultaneously fascinated by it all as well. I'm in such a confused back-and-forth state between freaking the fuck out and kind of gleefully absorbing all the angst; it's like I can't make up my mind. ON THE ONE HAND... BUT ON THE OTHER HAND... oh, KHR, why do you do this to me?

6) It's fascinating how calm Kaoru is, being in the waiting room full of crying people. KAORU, THEY ALL CRY BECAUSE OF YOU. And you just stabbed someone who had been so kind to you. Geez!

Where's Hibari? ;A;
I feel that he is left out from the whole drama. He had better be looking for the culprit to atone for this. T_T

9) the whole vial of blood thing reminds me of Vampire. Oh dear, now all Vampire!Giotto doujinshis become closer to the canon LOL.

I love the theme laid out in this arc. Sin and Enma. Enma is the god of Judgement in Hell. :D

This arc (finally) becomes awesome and exciting.

Yeah, Kaoru's got some serious nerve, playing cool while the entire Vongola family collapsed in various stages of emotional breakdown around him. :|

HIBARI IS CHILLING OUT SOMEWHERE NOT CARING ABOUT THINGS. That cad.

...now that you mention it, Giotto did look particularly vampirish in this one panel especially. ANYTHING YOU WANT TO TELL US, PRIMO?

And yeah, that name that made little sense at the beginning of this arc is finally starting to click into place along with the rest of the details. Gotta love it. :D

HIBARI IS CHILLING OUT SOMEWHERE NOT CARING ABOUT THINGS. That cad.

H-H-He should be tracking down the ~~murderer~~ culprit now, so please have faith ;A;
He MUST do something about it or i'll be disappointed T__T

funny just as i feel really bored by KHR last week, the manga becomes good this week. :D

YOU READ MY MIND OR SOMETHING BECAUSE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M THINKING.

The cheek of Shimon to stay there WHEN THEY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! OMG my mind absolutely raged when Mizuno lied. Really, Mizuno and Adelheid aren't my favorite people now.

TSUNA'S FACE WHEN HE SAYS GOKUDERA'S VOICE IS SHAKING. Pretty sure that's how I look like while reading this chapter.

Like many others, I'm still reeling.

"BAWWWW YAMA YAAAY PLOT", BASICALLY?

Adelheid I can forgive because she's SUPER HOT and I'm just SO INCREDIBLY SHALLOW!!, but Kaoru I just kinda want to reach through the computer screen and strangle. Especially after he so coolly lied about what happened; I mean, it's not like I expected him to come clean or anything, but that still touched a nerve, particularly after seeing the damage he did to Yamamoto in detail. :| FUCK THAT FUCKING GUY.

Sob, you and me both. I'm still reeling myself; pretty much haven't been able to get it out of my head all day. AMANO, I AM MAKING YOU PAY FOR MY THERAPY BILLS.

I'LL BE OBSESSED WITH THIS CHAPTER. It's what I wanted to read. Emotions, angst, realism: YAMAMOTO HAS BEEN CUT DOWN TO DEATH AND HE'S IN AN HOSPITAL, no magical healing of injuries-not even Kangaryuu could lol-. I cannot describe how godly I think Amano is after the Tsuna-barging-in-the-surgery-room scene. HIS FACIAL EXPRESSION. I love 27 even more now. And the surgery panel. EVERYTHING SO AWESOME. Yet someone on OneManga's forum said THIS CHAPTER WAS CLICHEED. HOOOOOOW THE HEEEEEEEEELL =___________= Haters Gonna Hate.

AH. I FORGOT. WE'LL NEVER SEE THE WHOLE SCENE IN THE ANIME: have you forgotten they even 'censured' the motorbikes and almost every trace of blood? =_=

It really blew me away that for once the magical deus ex machina sun-flame healing didn't work. That's what really made it scary for me, I think. I'm so used to everyone in shounen getting horrible life-altering wounds and then walking around like nothing happened a couple of days (or on occassion, hours, COUGHBLEACHCOUGH) later. But this time we actually saw him being operated on in the goddamn emergency room and it's like, holy shit, he really is just a normal teenager in this instance and his injuries are really, really terrible and just. Things are really looking bad right now.

Aaaaaaand I kinda love it. XD

I'm with you--this is exactly the kind of thing I eat up. EMOTIONS, ANGST, AND REALISM, it's just like you said. And it was all beautifully done, and PROPS, Amano. MAJOR PROPS. Haters can whine all they like; personally, I can't help but feel like anyone who found something to complain about in a chapter with this much character goodness and plot development is either completely burned out on the series as a whole, or is the type that thought the height of KHR's awesome was the end of the future arc with TSUNA BLOWING PEOPLE UP. Either way, I can't bring myself to be too bothered by their opinion. :P

And yeah, the anime will probably censor a good deal of it, but I like to hope that they'll do their best to show as much as they think they can get away with. They can show Yamamoto in the OR with less blood and fewer traumatizing closeups of what's going on. It shouldn't lessen the impact of everything too much, because we'll still see him lying there helpless and we'll still get Tsuna and everyone else's reactions, and that was what really hit home for me anyway.

Agreed, even though I think that single panel was a really shocking choice. I feel like this single chapter puts Reborn WAY above those f**king 'great three' of doom D:. What's so awesome about them? I think Reborn has more to show. Akira Amano is a tensai in characterization, drawing, developing actual plot and playing with it like a kitten (c'mon, Shoichi Irie. WHO COULD THINK THAT WIMP COULD ACTUALLY BE THE CENTER OF HALF AN ARC. And, Kawahira... o_o'). I'm one of those who weren't tired yet of the Future Arc: I think its end has been rushed indeed. The 6 funeral wreaths didn't have enough room. I think Amano wanted to make it last more, or she would not have invented them. She would have just had the original Funeral Wreaths, with Irie and Gamma's exception as 'traitors', maybe another Sun and Lightning, and the appearance of a Cloud Funeral Wreath. I think Zakuro, Bluebell, Kikyo & co. were kinda wasted. Oh, and I didn't mention I'd like the future arc characters to reappear :d... Shoichi, Spanner, and everyone else... Guardians included. I will not die peacefully until I see TYL!Tsuna, too. :|

Dunno how I got there

Must stop thinking about this manga (not)

...this said, I DO HOPE they will do well in portraying the drama of this chapter in the anime. I'm one of the few people not hating the anime. I think some additions were rather cute by the way... I confess I hated it when they didn't show what really happened in Tsuna's battle vs. Genkishi, or the motorcycles' thing, or bloody scenes (a stupid example? Chrome agonizing in the hideout. She was coughing blood in the manga. No trace of blood in the anime, she just suffers, ok. STILL... >>') BUT. They really do well when they have to show emotional scenes. I like how the 'revelation' to Kyoko and Haru *and what followed* has been shown, for example. When it comes to this, they strictly follow the manga.

Was I too random? @_@; Still 294 effect I guess... worse than Trinisette on me.

*re-reads*

...sorry for the mess. XD;

I. LOVE. THIS. MANGA.
I could not possibly agree more.

This week, it is both adorable and gut-wrenching.
So true. It's like getting a kiss from your long-time crush and a full-blown punch to the gut both at the same time.

Haha, yeah. Beautiful and awful at the same time. BUT OH THE PAIN IT HURTS SO GOOD.

The emergency room scene was almost too much for me, and the bloody scissors--;__; I can't believe Kaoru had the nerve to show up, although it would have been veeeery suspicious if he hadn't. Uggh, I am incoherent. BEST CHAPTER IN FOREVER!!

I'm one of those people who has to cover her eyes during some of the medical scenes on shows like House because it squicks me out, so I totally agree with you there. Not something I terribly wanted to see, especially given that it was one of my favorite characters. ;_;

Kaoru needs to take a long walk off a short pier. Oi. And yeah, BEST CHAPTER IN SO LONG IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. Like, since the Varia Arc, possibly.

That first page was so gay. And perfect for the 8059ness to come.

If it was anyone but Gokudera, this hilarious paranoia would be in no way justified, but. Yeah.
LMAO SO TRUE AHAHAHA

"Gokudera-kun's voice... was shaking...
;;;;;;;;;;;;; that panel ;A; I think I just stopped and stared in awe at how much that hit me. OMG.

Wow, Tsuna kicked down the ER...door. Is that possible?

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW SFLKJSADSLGSDJG

YOU LYING LIAR WHO IS LYING
/RAAAAAAAAAAAGE

I WAS SO 'YESSS' WHEN REBORN WAS PLAYING DETECIVE CONAN 8D HE CAN DO NO WRONG YOU SHIMON BETTER WATCH OUT

lol idg how blood can pass down memories... -_- oh well if I cared about details like that what am I doing reading this manga.

ALSO, IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE WE'LL BE GOING TO ITALY YET, THIS MAKES ME SAD.

SO VERY GAY. It was like the secondary theme of this chapter, right after Angst. 805927 all over the place.

You know that if anything would ping Gokudera's spider sense, it'd be Tsuna turning down the Vongola title. If this had been a Daily Life chapter instead of a REALLY GAY ANGST chapter, that's totally what would have happened.

Oh man, I know. And you can even see Tsuna himself trembling in the panel as he says it, and that one line just speaks volumes about how much they all care about each other. God it was so hard to read.

TSUNA IS A DYING WILL SUPERHERO; DOORS ARE HIS BITCH. Also he didn't actually kick it down, did he? Just kinda barged through them. MANNERS, TSUNA.

I was actually surprised that he hadn't figured out it was the Shimon yet. Or at least that he didn't mention anything; he's got to suspect them at the very least. He knew there was something off about them from the very start.

BLOOD CAN PASS DOWN MEMORIES BECAUSE THIS IS A MANGA WHERE A BABY SCIENTIST HELPED INVENTED POKEMON.

And yeah, I'm starting to wonder if KHR takes place in a parallel universe where Italy doesn't actually exist and mafiosi just run around pretending they're from Italy but really it's complete bullshit. No wonder they all speak Japanese. :|

Oh man. OH MAN. That first image, I was like "It's so sweet, and Gokudera looks so happy and... and, that's just so rare and... wait... Yamamoto was attacked last chapter... what a minute... FUCK YOU, AMANO! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" ... I want a big HQ scan of that chapter image... NOW.

Oh, ninth, why so hard to get a good read on? Good? Bad? In the middle? Ugh.

OH, TUNAFISH! I FEEL FOR YOU, I DO. "Gokudera-kun's voice... was shaking..." Oh man... If Gokudera's voice is shaking when talking about Yamamoto... oh it's awfully bad, and you know it. Dread must have spread in Tsuna's gut much like the way blood seeps into snow. Oh man.

The absolute terror and trauma on Tsuna's face the entire time after he hears the news... Amano's good at that kind of expression, no doubt about that. Oh man.

The Shimon family really disgusts me. You make a half-assed attempt to see if the new Vongola boss is good or bad, HALF-ASSED you morons, before you decide that he's bad and should be killed because you've suffered so freaking much and oh woe is you. Disgusting little twerps. Don't hold the son responsible for the actions of the father.

Why does this chapter have so many gorgeous images?

And you know the worst part about it all? Yamamoto probably didn't write "delitto" or the name that was crossed out and all that. Because how would he know about that bottle when not even Tsuna or Gokudera did? How would he know its name? Even if he did read it on the note Kaoru dropped, it doesn't really make sense for him to remember it as something important when what he focused on was Vongola's crossed out crest. If he wrote anything, it would probably be "Shimon = Enemy, Kaoru did this" or something, it wouldn't be a word in Italian when he doesn't even know what its meaning is. And why would he write it hiragana? It would make more sense for it to be written in katakana as デリット or デリトト in order to make it clear that it was a foreign word. Which means that the Simon family is playing them, and that the Vongola are walking into their trap. Unless Reborn knows that it's a fake but wanted Tsuna to agree to the ceremony. However, he looked honestly surprised when Tsuna said he'd go through with it, which makes it more likely that they're being played. Fuck it.

... Long-ass paragraph is long-ass and rambly. Sorry, bb. <3

You know, the text on the cover page might say "three buddies spending happy times together", but it's pretty clear that the true purpose of that page is to show how much Gokudera and Tsuna love Yamamoto. He's totally the star; not only is he in the forefront, but the other two are smiling specifically at him, and they're in his room on top of that. A more accurate opening text would have read "EVERYONE LOVES YAMAMOTO...!" and it would have been absolutely true.

The Ninth needs to go join the "so are they good, or bad, or what...?" club that Kawahira founded.

I like how even on the phone, Gokudera can't manage to conceal his emotions at all ever. I can't even imagine how his face would have looked like if we could have seen it at that moment. ...Well, no, actually I can, because it probably looked just like Tsuna's. Sob my poor traumatized boys. ;_;

And keep in mind, Enma was really the only one out of the entire bunch that even bothered with a half-assed attempt. Everyone else was pretty much ready to crucify the Vongola with no questions asked. So yeah, definitely nooooot too pleased with the Shimon family just now. :|

THIS CHAPTER IS GORGEOUS BECAUSE AMANO IS ALWAYS AT HER BEST WHEN SHE'S BEING A MANIPULATIVE MANIPULATOR OF EMOTIONS.

And after thinking on it some more, I've actually come to the conclusion that Yamamoto almost certainly was the one who wrote the "delitto" message, actually. It makes perfect sense for him, after writing down Kaoru's name (which was unfortunately later crossed out), to struggle in his last moments of consciousness to come up with another clue for his friends, and since the paper that Kaoru dropped was the clear instigator for his sudden violence, he would have singled in on that. There wouldn't have been time for him to write a detailed explanation, so he would have focused on the one thing that he could write, that weird Italian word that he didn't understand but which was obviously important enough for Kaoru to try to murder him over.

The fact that he wrote it in hiragana and not katakana actually makes it more likely for him to have been the one that wrote it. If it had been Kaoru, he would have known the proper way to write the word in Japanese, whereas Yamamoto ended up with a sloppy, confusing translation. This post over at Mangahelpers describes it better than I could.

On top of that, since the Shimon family had no idea that Tsuna had already refused to go through with the ceremony, it would have made no sense for Kaoru or anyone else to leave a "clue" hinting at what they were after. They would have had no reason to, since as far as they knew, the Vongola were planning to go through the ceremony on schedule. So I really do think it had to be Yamamoto. It's just unfortunate that his clue indirectly led to Tsuna playing right into the Shimon family's hands.

This is true, very true. Yamamoto~~~ ;___; ~~But why must this picture have so many details! D:~~

I'm wondering more about who the hell he is rather than if he's good/bad/whatever, really. He feels kind of like one of those plot points that were forgotten, like Longchamp (only he's a character, not a plot point).

Traumatized Gokudera... I want to see that. I really really do. WHY DIDN'T WE GET TO SEE THAT?

True, but it's still just such an awful attempt. A note? Really? Putting a note on a teenagers desk and assume that he will find it immediately is kind of stupid. I hardly even look at my desk in the morning, so I'd probably have found it after school, when the shit had already hit the fan. :<

THIS IS VERY TRUE. HER TRAUMATIZED EXPRESSIONS ARE VERY GOOD.

Hmmm, that is true... Oh well, it could've been Yamamoto or it could've been Shimon, but either way... it's bad. DX And hasn't Tsuna told Enma like a million times that he doesn't want to be the boss? Kind of makes it feel like the Simon wants to make sure that he does make the decision to become the Tenth Boss in order for the Vongola to bring out SIN so they can get their hands on it. ~~Though I don't see why they want a bottle of blood. How much use can it be?~~

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KHR 294, in which I invite you to join me on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

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Crackpot Theory

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